Irish Medical Organisation

Lobbying Organisation Irish Medical Organisation

Date published 21 Jan, 2023

Relevant Matter Matters involving public funds

Public Policy Area Budgetary matters

Period 1 Sep, 2022 to 31 Dec, 2022

Specific Details Budget 2023

Intended results Develop and resource a comprehensive medical Workforce plan Medical Manpower; Immediately reverse the discriminatory a 30% pay cut imposed on new consultants to the HSE since 2012; • In the context of current negotiations with the IMO on a new consultant contract we must ensure that medical services are improved by attracting and retaining senior doctors in our public health service and reversing the trend of emigration; Immediately resolve issues of excessive working hours and non-payment of overtime; Negotiate a new NCHD contract that ensures an appropriate work-life balance and reflects the demographics of the NCHD workforce; Introduce a sustainable government-led financial program to support Graduate Entry Medical (GEM) students to include support for GEM Graduates with debt relief; Build out a Consultant-led Occupational Health service Invest in General Practice and the shift of care to the community: Invest in supports for general practice to employ additional GPs, practice nurses and other support staff; Invest in a resolution to the GP Locum Crisis; Negotiate and invest in a Structured programmes of Care in general practice: Engage with the IMO on issues relating to out-of- hours GP services. Ensure full implementation of the 2021 Public Health Agreement; Conduct a review of the staffing levels in Public and Community Health Departments in light of the agreed staffing levels and the needs of the service and patients, and to identify blockages to recruitment; Invest in acute bed capacity and diagnostic infrastructure: Immediately invest in modular builds to relieve the capacity strains on our EDs; Resource a multi-annual programme of investment in acute bed capacity to include: 5,000 additional public acute beds; Standalone public hospitals for elective care; increase critical care capacity to 550 critical care beds; Urgently assess and resource diagnostic, radiology and laboratory requirements to Investment in General Practice and Primary-Care Infrastructure: Introduce tax incentives to GPs to encourage the development of GP infrastructure, including premises, medical equipment, diagnostic equipment, IT as per the recommendations of the 2015 Government Commissioned Report by Indecon; Given the precarious financial position of newly establishing practices Engage with the IMO in developing specific supports to help newly qualified GPs to establish as principals; Investment in Health and Social Care Needs for Older People •Further resourcing of rehabilitative community care beds and home care supports including intensive home care packages; •Ongoing investment in a holistic approach to care with input from a range of specialties including geriatricians, GPs and public health specialists; •Invest in a programme of GP care for nursing home patients that reflects the complexity of care required; Invest in Mental Health Services:Appropriately resource community & hospital based mental health teams; Assess the number of acute inpatient psychiatric beds required: Commission a review of the current model of community-based multi-disciplinary mental health services to ensure that it is the most effective model of care; Address the governance model to ensure better integration of specialist services within the wider HSE; invest in a clinical programme of mental health care in General Practic Invest in eHealth; Invest in secure systems of electronic health records across hospitals and community health centres (systems must be able to communicate and allow embedding of national summary patient records); Ensure on-going investment and cooperation in the development of eHealth in General Practice in line with the agreement between the IMO, the HSE and the Dept of Health;

Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity Ms Vanessa Hetherington, Assistant Director, Policy and International Affairs

Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?) No

Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign? No

Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client? No

Mass communications

Email All Oireachtas Members All Oireachtas members were emailed a copy of the Budget Submission

Lobbying activity

The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.

Submission (1)

IMO Budget Submission sent to Members of the Cabinet and all members of the Oireachtas

Designated public officials lobbied

There were no DPOs directly lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area.